Can The Internet Be Your Agent?

The number of consumers that go online each year to research at least a portion of a new home search is steadily growing year after year. As the internet gains an even bigger foothold in the United States, its use is likely to steadily grow and accomplish much of that growth in unexpected areas. One of those areas has been the selling of property online.

For some home sellers, selling a home online merges the excitement of the internet with the ability to control the marketing of the property from start to finish. To be clear, having a real estate agent or at the very least a real estate lawyer throughout any selling process will most certainly help you as move along the course of action. Particular if you are on your first home sale, a real estate agent can offer invaluable advice and handle your transaction in a professional manner.

That being said, many sellers will still look at an internet sale as a great way to personally market the property and save a bit on real estate fees in the long run. Are you really ready to sell your property online though? There are some questions you need to ask yourself before you pursue an internet sale.

Am I Comfortable With Online-Only Advertising?

The best way to get a person online and looking at the materials on your property is to catch them while they’re online already. Of course, online advertising is the best way to do so. Some sellers are uncomfortable pursuing only web-based advertising sources and would rather maintain a local perspective through newspaper listings. Figure out which consumer you are before embarking on an internet sale.

Will The Home Show Well Online?

If you are committed to an online-only sale, you will need sparkling pictures of your property in order to convince a buyer to pursue an online real estate transaction with your property. For most people that put their homes for sale online, professional photos serve this purpose well.

A professional photographer will know how to showcase your property and get the most out of the shots taken. These photos will take the place of an initial showing for many online buyers, so ensuring that they make a great first impression is critical to the online selling process.

Can I Transition From The Internet To Personal Contact Efficiently?

Just as a newspaper ad or other marketing material, the internet is merely a tool to help you sell your property, not a replacement real estate agent. The internet will not negotiate for you or find you a title company automatically. It will also not be the only way you deal with a potential buyer and indeed very quickly a potential buyer will want to talk to you to put a voice with the home instead of a web address.

For most sellers, the internet can be a great tool for the selling of a home, but probably not the entire process. With local regulations to be considered and a negotiation process to endure (possibly with a buyer’s agent on the other end), a real estate expert of some kind like a real estate agent or real estate lawyer will still need to be involved in the transaction.

However, if you feel that selling your home on the internet is an exciting prospect and doing so will motivate you better to put time and effort into the sale, it can be a great option. As long as you remember that it is ultimately a mechanism to put you in personal contact with a potential buyer and not the end-all solution to your real estate sale, you can create a positive, efficient, fun internet selling process for your property.

This is another original article by Joe Lane, co-owner of The Lane Real Estate Team at http://www.joelane.com/. Are you looking for an experienced Tri City WA Real Estate agency? With 20 years of service based, business experience, Joe and Colleen Lane work hard to serve home buyers and sellers for the Tri Cities of Washington’s Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, and surrounding areas.